Tri-Service

Unexploded "British" WWII Bomb Causes German Stadium Evacuation

The discovery of an unexploded bomb from World War Two has caused the evacuation of Borussia Dortmund's 81,264-capacity stadium and the surrounding area, according to Germany's international broadcaster DW.

The 550lb device, reported as being of British origin, was found close to the Signal Iduna Park on Thursday, just hours before the team's coach Jurgen Klopp was due to give a press conference to reporters ahead of his side's match with Shalke this weekend.

The bomb was defused safely later in the afternoon and will now be destroyed.

It was found on a construction site on the west side of the stadium after analysis of an aerial photograph, Dortmund city council confirmed in a statement on its website.

Have a look at the club's tweet showing the evacuation radius around the stadium below:

#dobombe der Evakuierungsradius um den Fundort beträgt 250m, weitere Infos & Karte: https://t.co/DRTA8lW3Xk <EF> pic.twitter.com/TBgZ4qG5Uw
— Stadt Dortmund (@stadtdortmund) February 26, 2015

Numerous unexploded bombs have remained in the ground below many German cities after being dropped in the Second World War by Allied and Soviet forces, DW reports.

In the country's capital, Berlin, alone it's been estimated that 3,000 bombs still remain undiscovered, which will become more dangerous as time goes on due to rust and the degradation of fuses.